Dhupguri bypoll: Over 78% exercise their franchise, counting on Friday
Counting for the Dhupguri by-election will take place on Friday at the Jalpaiguri II campus of North Bengal University. The counting will commence at 8 am amid tight security.
Section 144 will be enforced within 200 meters of the counting centre. A three-tier security zone has been set up as per the district election office’s directives. Following the sudden death of BJP MLA Bishnupada Roy July 25 due to illness, a by-election was held. Polls were conducted peacefully on Tuesday. According to the district election office, the overall voter turnout across 260 polling booths was 78.19 per cent on Tuesday.
However, political parties argue that this voting rate is lower than the Assembly elections of 2016 and 2021. In 2016, the voter turnout was 88 per cent, and in the 2021 Assembly elections, it was 87 per cent. The reason for this has emerged as a topic of discussion at present in political circles.
Following Tuesday’s polling, security measures were intensified upon the arrival of EVM machines at the strong room in North Bengal University’s second campus. Two companies of the CAPF have been deployed there. Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godara stated: “The counting centre will be secured with a three-tier security arrangement. Central Force personnel will be stationed inside, followed by the state’s armed police force.
The third and final layer will consist of state police responsible for crowd control and identity verification. In addition, Section 144 will be enforced within 200 metres of the counting centre, restricting access to only those with proper identification.”
She also mentioned that the counting of postal ballots and Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballots (ETPBS) will commence at 8 am, in addition to counting the EVMs. Approximately 100 counting personnel will handle this task at 14 tables in two rooms. A Medical Officer and an ambulance will be available at the counting centre, along with fire brigade services.
Meanwhile, in 18 booths of the Dhupguri Assembly constituency, the voting percentage was low, inviting scrutiny. District election commission conducted a scrutiny with all candidates on Wednesday to determine if there were any technical issues behind this.
Trinamool candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy later talking to media persons said that no technical problems were identified. “Objections were not raised by other political parties also,” he added.
